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Community Garden Project

Are you wondering about the raised beds in front of our office across from the Blue Hill Library? Well, wonder no more.

In June 2016, Healthy Peninsula was awarded a $3,000 Maine Farmland Trust Blue Hill Community Food Grant to develop a Community Garden Project. The objective of the project was to build networks and infrastructure for more formalized community gardening opportunities on the Blue Hill Peninsula in the coming years. Existing gardens and the work of community gardening champions were mapped, including all of the local elementary school and senior housing project gardens, and three raised-bed gardens were installed. These beds are now used for public instruction and demonstration workshops for community members interested in learning gardening basic. When harvested, the bounty produced is distributed by the Magic Food Bus across the Blue Hill Peninsula region.

In the summer of 2017, volunteers took over planting and maintaining the garden, often fielding questions from patrons of the library or folks just walking by. Once again, the produce from the garden made its way out into the community on the Magic Food Bus. In the fall, a Stone Soup cooking demonstration and food tasting was held in the garden, giving all who attended a chance to learn how to make delicious soup out of vegetables from the garden.

Healthy Peninsula, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, mobilizes, supports, and collaborates with community partners to improve the health of the towns of the Blue Hill Peninsula, Deer Isle, and Stonington.

Our work would not be possible without the generous support of Blue Hill Memorial Hospital and the Eastern Maine Healthcare System.